On stage at Daimler's museum, right now, Daimler and Tesla are
announcing a strategic alliance. Daimler plans to invest in Tesla -
quoting it paid "a double digit million-dollar sum for around a ten percent stake" in the silicon valley company. The two will go forward to co-operate, perhaps - we speculate - even on future models.

Talking
about how the two combine the best of 'future' and 'historical' auto
industry, what we found most interesting about what is being said, is
that Daimler - one of the most vehement pushers of Hydrogen technology
to date - has suddenly decided it needs to get on board the EV train.

Secondly,
that Daimler says an alliance with Tesla allows an electric-mobility
future to be got to market much faster, because of the small, flexible,
quick-responding nature of a small company like Tesla. Daimler further
announced that by 2012 it would begin mass production of Smart EVs -
and make them available to regular customers (at present, Daimler and
Tesla are co-operating on a limited test fleet of Smarts). Mercedes
will also help Tesla with future vehicle development, and even supply
components in the future, the company said.More soon...

[This piece first appeared on BritsOnGreen - The Movement Design Bureau's new dedicated strand for green news and insight]